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Linda L. Lawson

Director, Office of Safety, Energy and Environment

Linda Lawson has directed the Office of Transportation Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Transportation since 1998. Ms. Lawson is responsible for overseeing policy and economic analyses of environmental, safety, mobility and economic issues, and assessing the implications of transportation issues that have a major impact on the nation.

From January 2001 through July 2002, Ms Lawson was Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, serving as the top career official managing the Policy Office and overseeing a wide variety of technical and policy issues including global positioning systems, climate change, and surface transportation reauthorization.

Ms. Lawson has served in a variety of increasingly responsible positions in the Department since 1978. From 1988 to 1998 she was a Senior Analyst in the Office of the Secretary recommending policy and implementing Secretarial and Administration initiatives such as transportation's role in welfare reform, brownfields redevelopment, and conducting studies such as the domestic review of aviation security. She oversaw U.S. Department of Transportation's 1995 and 2000 National Design Awards programs.

Background

Prior to working in the Office of the Secretary, she directed the Office of Management and Data Systems in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. She began her government career as a computer programmer for the U.S. Census Bureau.

Ms. Lawson received her B.A., and the Kreeger Award for Design and Graphics, in 1976 from George Washington University. She is also a 1998 graduate of the Federal Executive Institute. She has lived in the Washington D. C. area since 1963.